China’s economic development has been accelerating in the past 30 years, global economic integration also has fundamentally changed the international business mode. The supply chain is facing more challenges under increasing pressure; manufacturers must maximize productivity to meet the requirements. In order to maintain a competitive advantage, more Chinese companies applying international Courier Delivery as a value-added service. Therefore, the demand for China international forwarder shipping services is growing rapidly. Among all the international express courier companies, UPS, TNT, DEL, FedEx, EMS are the top 5 choices for foreigners to ship packages from China to overseas countries.

The advantage and disadvantages of the top 5 China international express courier delivery service

The top 5 international express Delivery companies all have their own advantages and disadvantages shipping from China, The strengths of FEDEX and UPS are the shipping line from China to south and north Americas and Japan; TNT has absolute strength of the shipping line from China to the Europe and West Asia as well as Middle East; DHL has advantage shipping line from China to Japan, Southeast Asia and Australia; While EMS is better for customs clearance, excluding volume weight, no charge fee for return shipping costs. These advantages are also reflected in their price, the strength shipping line of every courier delivery company cheaper and secure than others. The following are the reviews of advantage and disadvantages of the top 5 international express delivery companies.

1. DHL

DHL belongs to Deutsche Post.

Pros: Overall shipping fee from China to overseas countries is relatively cheap, the shipping cost from China to the developing countries in Africa, the Middle East, Eastern Europe, South America is cheaper and faster than other international express delivery companies, the customs clearance ability is very good, British customs clearance ability is the best.

Cons: poor customer services, such as customs clearance at the destination country it cannot provide specific conditions well, poor US customs clearance ability. It is way too expensive for packages more than 31 kg.

2. FedEx

Pros: Good customer service, high security and shipping speed from China to the Middle East countries. It has high Mexico customs clearance ability, the shipping from China to Vietnam, Israel, Kuwait, Lebanon and other countries is relatively cheaper.

Cons: Overall shipping fee is high.

3. UPS

UPS is an American express delivery company. It has blue and red freight shipping services. UPS Blue is the ordinary parcel delivery service which delivery speed is the slowest one compare to UPS Red courier service, generally people shipping packages from China to USA with UPS Red, UPS Red 1+ means express plus which is the fastest and expensive courier delivery service by UPS.

Pros: It offers good customer service, 5-21 kg package weight ship from China to Western European countries are cheaper. High package safety and customs clearance in the United States is good; the shipping price from China to Mexico is competitive.

Cons: Higher shipping cost from China to the developing countries, United Kingdom custom clearance is poor. Package from China to Egypt needs to provide a lot of information to get the goods, the goods are returned frequently.

4. TNT

It belongs to Netherlands now merged by FedEx. It has Red and Green courier shipping service similar to UPS.

TNT Red Pros: cheap shipping fee from China to developing countries, customs clearance in most countries is good enough.

TNT Red Cons: The shipping price of the heavy packages are relatively high, the shipping speed from China to developing countries is slow and less secure.

The Medium-speed TNT is also known as TNT Green. It is cooperated by China Post and Hong Kong TNT. The packages in mainland China is responsible for the receipt by EMS and then sent to Hong Kong TNT. There’s nearly no difference with TNT Red after packages arrived in HK.

Pros: people can ship Chinese brand mobile phone from China to overseas countries, the shipping fee of the small package from China to most countries are cheap.

Cons: slow, less secure and shipping cost is high for the overweight packages.

5. EMS

EMS is not a company, it is the abbreviation of the express delivery service launched by Universal Postal Union which shipping faster than general packages.

Pros: It enjoys the priority processing rights in national postal, customs, aviation and other sectors in the world, the package global reach is generally within seven days in theory. EMS is a good advantage for customs clearance, excluding volume weight, do not charge return shipping costs and customs duties.  the shipping cost of packages under 21 kg usually cheaper than DHL, TNT, UPS and FEDEX.

Cons: shipping speed is slow, most countries cannot track, and there is no receipt record which is the biggest drawback. There is no discount for goods more than 21KG kilograms and one shipment cannot contain multiple packages.

How to select China international courier delivery service

We generally recommend foreigners compare the shipping time, shipping fee, package volume, and package weight as well as shipping lines then flexibly select the most suitable international courier delivery service to shipping packages from China to overseas countries.

How to calculate China international courier delivery shipping fee

The China international courier delivery shipping fee usually composed by Billing unit of weight, first weight and continue weight, net weight and volume weight, chargeable weight, package fee, general shipping fee calculation formula and fuel surcharges.

1. Billing unit of weight

Generally each 0.5kg can be accounted as a billing unit.

2. First weight and continue weight

Take 0.5kg as the first weight, then each additional 0.5kg is a continue weight. Usually first weight is higher than continue weight.

3. Net weight and volume weight

Net weight refers to the total weight of shipping goods and packaging weight. Volume weight refers to shipping goods which has big volume while net weight is light, items need convert volume into weight as the way to calculate shipping fee due to restricted volume of the transportation tool like track, train and plane.

4. Chargeable weight

In accordance with the net weight, volume weight and definition of international shipping associations, the chargeable weight in the freight shipping process is the higher one between net weight and volume weight.

5. Package fee

Usually the packages provided by the international courier delivery companies are free, which include carton box and bubble packaging material. However, for expensive and fragile products they will charge for the packaging fee and it usually doesn’t include in discount.

6. General shipping fee calculation formula

1) When net weight of the shipping goods is bigger than its volume weight, the freight shipping fee calculation method is: The first freight + (net weight (kg) × 2-1) × continue freight. For example: if you ship 5kg goods from China to USA, first weight is 100 RMB, 25 RMB for continue weight, the total freight shipping from China to USA is: 100+ (5 × 2-1) × 25 = 325 RMB

2) When net weight is smaller than volume weight, the freight shipping fee should based on volume weight charge, volumn weight formula is as follows by UPS, DHL, TNT and FedEx for regular items: length (cm) × width (cm) × height (cm) ÷ 5000 = Weight (KG) Irregular items: the biggest length(cm) × biggest width (cm) × biggest height (cm) ÷ 5000 = weight (KG).

7. Fuel surcharges

The international express sometimes add fuel surcharges, for example, the fuel surcharge rate is 9%, and shipper should add 9% extra of the shipping fee.

What’s the relationship between freight forwarder shipping agent and the international courier delivery companies?

To make it simple, freight forwarder shipping agent is actually an intermediary company which connected the end-user (shipper) and courier delivery companies.

General freight forwarder shipping service procedure

1. The shipper contact freight forwarder shipping agent;

2. The freight forwarder agent quote for shipper with a discount based on the international express freight company standard shipping fee, generally the larger the volume, the more favorable discount;

3. Packages sent to the warehouse of the freight shipping agent and shipper pay for the shipping free from China to overseas countries;

4. The freight forwarder shipping agent will send out the goods by international courier delivery company and provide tracking numbers;

Usually shipper can get much lower price from the freight forwarder shipping agent compare to official international courier delivery companies due to they have large shipping orders as well as they provide package merge service to help shipper save shipping fee.

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